This week: something different. A departure from the normal in terms of planned shaves.
A couple of weeks ago, I planned shaves with the Cella Rapid Shaving Cream and Truefitt & Hill No. 10 Sensitive shaving gel, and as it turned out, those did not need brushes. So at the time of planning, I thought I’d need a brush for use with the Cella. But as it turned out, I didn’t. So I had two consecutive shaves with no brushes used. That was the first time that had happened since September 2025 when I used the Barbasol and Nivea gel back-to-back.
This week, I wanted to put the Cremo to use. It’s a latherless (or relatively latherless) thick cream that people love and swear by. It’s relatively new, with the company formed in 2005 in Connecticut, but they have a fairly extensive line of shaving creams.
I have experience with the Barbasol 1919 shaving cream. It was released in 2019 as a replacement for the “original formula” cream that had been produced since 1919. It’s thick, slick, and does a great job of protecting the skin while still making a great base for a shave. It’s latherless, but that is intentional and makes it just cling to the skin and hairs. I really like it for what it is–a high-performing, slick cream that helps produce a nice close shave with little irritation.
People online often compare it favorably to the Cremo, saying that they’re similar formulations and perform similarly in a shave. So I picked some up (like the Barbasol 1919, Cremo is available at a lot of grocery stores and pharmacies) with the plan to compare them some day.
Well, that day is today. And that week just turned out to be a week where I decided that I’d use the Oliworks M3teorite razor with the blade it shipped with–the Filoso.
I know nothing about the Filoso. I don’t know whether to expect it to be aggressive or mild. I don’t know where it’s made (the tuck doesn’t say). I’ve seen very few reviews of it or shaves with it. So I really am going into this week a little blind.
I don’t plan on using the aggressive plate. I’ll start on the medium and go from there, but don’t plan on moving up, just down. But it could happen where I decide to move up to the aggressive plate. We’ll see.
Aside from the Filoso blades and the Cremo shaving cream, nothing else is debuting this week, so it’s kind of quiet on that front. But that’s okay.
So how did things turn out this week? Let’s find out.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #288. The First Filoso Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Oliworks M3teorite Aluminum medium plate
- Blade: Filoso
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Refreshing pre-shave cream (green)
- Brush: Proraso boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Refreshing shave cream (green)
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Refreshing after shave balm (green)
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the Filoso blade
- 28th blade used in my shaves
- 10th shave with the Oliworks M3teorite
- 4th blade used with the M3teorite
- 3rd shave with the Proraso Refreshing soap
- 14th shave with the Proraso Refreshing combo (soap or cream)
- 18th shave with the Proraso blue product line
- 30th shave with an overall rating of 21 (13.5% of all logged shaves)
Just to reinforce what I said above: this week’s shaves are almost a complete unknown because I don’t know what to expect from the blade.
On my cheeks, it worked fine. It required a third pass, which isn’t normal, but I figured it must be a mild blade. But on my neck, things were less positive. It does seem to be a mild blade, which required extra passes in the usual spots, but there was more irritation from those areas because it just didn’t seem to be doing a good job of cleaning up the stubble. And where many blades will feel smooth in their, even if they’re mild or aggressive, this just didn’t. And what do I mean by smooth? That the blade glides through the hairs and doesn’t seem to chatter or vibrate much. If there’s blade feel or noise, it should be consistent and not strong. None of those things seemed to apply this morning.
So I’m left to debate the future shaves: go mild on Tuesday as planned, or step it up and then turn it down on Thursday? Let me get back to you on that one.
Otherwise, I had a good shave. The Proraso green soap lathered beautifully–there was a recent question in the Reddit sub about whether the Proraso creams or soaps lather better, and honestly, I’ve always preferred the soaps, but the creams lather faster. Today’s shave just reinforced that. It was slick and protective and comfortably cool with the menthol feel.
I realized today that I do like the feel of the M3teorite–the head’s edges are just rounded enough to make it comfortable and fairly easy to use. But that blade is something I’m going to have to reckon with.
Comfort: 22 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 21 of 25
Overall: 21 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #289. The Barbasol 1919 Comparison Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Oliworks M3teorite Aluminum mild plate
- Blade: Filoso
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave stick
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Barbasol 1919 Classic shaving cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Barbasol 1919 After Shave Balm
- Stats:
- 7th shave with the Barbasol 1919 shaving cream
- 104th almost perfect shave
- 4th almost perfect shave with the M3teorite
- 68th shave with an overall rating of 23 (30.4% of all logged shaves)
So yeah, the mild plate is the key here. I’m still fairly sure that the Filoso blade is at least medium-aggressive, and that it isn’t that smooth in its cutting ability. But paired with the mild plate today, this felt like the right way to go. And yes, this will be the way I go on Thursday as well. I’m fairly certain that the aggressive plate would be too much on my skin.
This morning’s shave combo performed wonderfully, providing excellent slickness, comfort, protection, and a pleasant, traditional scent. This is proof that for a relatively small cost (all in, the lather and balm cost me about $12, and the pre-shave is $10), you can get a simple, close, comfortable shave. The shaving cream is thick, and takes water well, so as I rub it between my hands, I keep adding a little water and then start applying it to my face, and then add water as I’m shaving.
I did have some light, brief irritation with the alum, but nothing huge or distracting. And the closeness with 3 passes plus a cleanup is where I want it to be. The balm is keeping everything moisturized and smooth afterward.
So, a better shave with the Filoso, and I look forward to trying the Cremo Sensitive on Thursday to see how it compares to the Barbasol 1919.
Comfort: 23 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #290. The First Cremo Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Oliworks M3teorite Aluminum mild plate
- Blade: Filoso
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Menthol pre-shave stick
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Cremo Sensitive Shave Cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Dollar Shave Club Post Shave Cream
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the Cremo shave cream
- 53rd lather used in my shaves
- 12th shave with the M3teorite
- 105th almost perfect shave
- 69th shave with an overall rating of 23 (30.7% of all logged shaves)
I’ve got some valuable learnings from this week’s shaves. Let’s tick through them.
First, I really do like the M3teorite razor, especially in the mild end–the mild and medium plates. It performed very well this week, even if it was slightly handicapped by the blade it’s manufacturer saddled it with.
Second, I do like lathering with a brush. I missed doing that this week, and I’m looking forward to getting back to it next week.
Third, the Filoso blade just isn’t very good. Even with these two mild shaves, and a minimum of irritation, I had several weepers–spots with some very light bleeding. That tells me that it isn’t technique in this case, but is the equipment itself. And this kind of result just doesn’t make for a fun shave experience.
I really like the Cremo after its first go. It was very slick, has a thinner consistency than the Barbasol 1919 (and that consistency reminds me more of Proraso pre-shave creams than a shaving cream). I’m looking forward to trying it a second time to fully evaluate it.
Overall, these weren’t bad shaves. The last two with the mild plate were very comfortable, even though they produced those weepers. They were very good shaves, but a little challenging because I know a blade can deliver better results than these.
And for those of you keeping track, the Mühle, Feather, and King C Gillette blades have been great or outstanding with their paired razors, while the RK and Filoso blades were okay but sub-par. The Van Der Hagen were terrible. Whoops, I guess that’s part 6 of the Blades They Rode In On series???
Comfort: 23 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25